In 2013, photographer Lois Bielefeld decided to respond to the repeated mis-gendering of her partner in public spaces.

â€œWeâ€™d joke about it,â€ she told The Huffington Post in an interview.

Bielefeld had a similar experienced as a teen, when she dressed androgynously, and was sometimes misidentified as â€œsir.â€ So she sought to take portraits of people she knew who identified either as genderqueer or androgynous.

â€œThe people I photographed are regularly mis-gendered, which means that they often have bizarre interactions in public, especially bathrooms, that can be anywhere from amusing to downright unsafe and hostile,â€ Bielefeld said.

As her project grew, she decided to also include transgender subjects, her initial hesitation being that these subjects typically identified as one gender.Â

â€œIt wasnâ€™t until talking with transgender friends that I learned how the transition process creates an incredible social and physical uprooting where gender ambiguity is highlighted and at the forefront until they start to pass,â€ Bielefeld said.

Gender identification and policing begins at a young age, and children who reject the binary gender system are more susceptible to bullying and feeling out of place.

In addition to taking pictures of transgender, genderqueer and androgynous adults, Bielefeld took portraits of children who favored a genderless appearance.

â€œGender identification and policing begins at a young age, and children who reject the binary gender system are more susceptible to bullying and feeling out of place,â€ she said.Â

â€œThe photographs invite the viewers to look, stare, and question, which unfortunately is what happens to the subjects on a regular basis in public,â€ Bielefeld said. â€œIt is in â€˜The Bathroomâ€™ that the viewer encounters the reverse where they can sit and listen to the subjectsâ€™ experiences, thoughts, and feelings.â€

Allowing these individuals to share their unique stories emphasizes that gender isnâ€™t as rigid as so many of us are raised to believe. Even the word â€œandrogyny,â€ Bielefeld pointed out, comes from the Greek wordÂ andros,Â meaning â€œman,â€ andÂ gyne,Â meaning â€œwoman.â€

â€œThe irony is that it still hails from the antiquated binary gender system. This system is deeply ingrained in our culture and allows for no variation. You must check either a female or male box,â€ Bielefeld said. â€œOur bodies are so much more complex and varied than this, down to the chromosomal level. I wanted viewers to recognize the diversity of bodies and become aware of the social ramifications individuals suffer when others try to box them into the binary system.â€

In 2013, photographer Lois Bielefeld decided to respond to the repeated mis-gendering of her partner in public spaces.

â€œWeâ€™d joke about it,â€ she told The Huffington Post in an interview.

Bielefeld had a similar experienced as a teen, when she dressed androgynously, and was sometimes misidentified as â€œsir.â€ So she sought to take portraits of people she knew who identified either as genderqueer or androgynous.

â€œThe people I photographed are regularly mis-gendered, which means that they often have bizarre interactions in public, especially bathrooms, that can be anywhere from amusing to downright unsafe and hostile,â€ Bielefeld said.

As her project grew, she decided to also include transgender subjects, her initial hesitation being that these subjects typically identified as one gender.Â

â€œIt wasnâ€™t until talking with transgender friends that I learned how the transition process creates an incredible social and physical uprooting where gender ambiguity is highlighted and at the forefront until they start to pass,â€ Bielefeld said.

Gender identification and policing begins at a young age, and children who reject the binary gender system are more susceptible to bullying and feeling out of place.

In addition to taking pictures of transgender, genderqueer and androgynous adults, Bielefeld took portraits of children who favored a genderless appearance.

â€œGender identification and policing begins at a young age, and children who reject the binary gender system are more susceptible to bullying and feeling out of place,â€ she said.Â

â€œThe photographs invite the viewers to look, stare, and question, which unfortunately is what happens to the subjects on a regular basis in public,â€ Bielefeld said. â€œIt is in â€˜The Bathroomâ€™ that the viewer encounters the reverse where they can sit and listen to the subjectsâ€™ experiences, thoughts, and feelings.â€

Allowing these individuals to share their unique stories emphasizes that gender isnâ€™t as rigid as so many of us are raised to believe. Even the word â€œandrogyny,â€ Bielefeld pointed out, comes from the Greek wordÂ andros,Â meaning â€œman,â€ andÂ gyne,Â meaning â€œwoman.â€

â€œThe irony is that it still hails from the antiquated binary gender system. This system is deeply ingrained in our culture and allows for no variation. You must check either a female or male box,â€ Bielefeld said. â€œOur bodies are so much more complex and varied than this, down to the chromosomal level. I wanted viewers to recognize the diversity of bodies and become aware of the social ramifications individuals suffer when others try to box them into the binary system.â€